Part of the reason we don’t like to share our information on GCA these days is because of threads like this. I have shared with you some of our most valuable information and all anyone wants to talk about is the integrity of the list and Minnesota Valley, which is by far the most controversial entry on the list. We are 20 replies deep and not one person said: “Holy Crap Bret! Seth Raynor was reported at Swope Park in Kansas City before Tillinghast ever worked there?” I thought that was a pretty interesting addition to the list. Phil, if you’re reading this, have you ever seen any mention of Raynor at Swope Park prior to Tillinghast?
As for the free wiki, I think that is a great project, but I hate to see every thread about an architect morphed into a discussion about the free wiki. Someone like me who has done lots of research will not put faith in this list. To me, it’s just another list that needs editing and I don’t have the time these days to edit the list for you. You would need guys like Sven Nilsen, Mike Cirba, Joe Bausch, Phil Young, Jim Kennedy, Anthony Pioppi, Nigel Islam, Brad Klein to comb through this list to make it as accurate as possible, and even then there would be disputes and discrepancies.
When I said it’s a lot of work, I meant it’s a lot of work on the people you are asking the information from, because you are kind of asking us to do the work for you. And yes, it’s work we have already done, but it’s not necessarily in the format that you desire. Some of the names I listed above make a living as historians and I doubt they want to just give away their livelihood to someone who is going to make the final call with their information. The bottom line is do we really need another list? So much of this information is available on GCA or the internet, it’s already been discussed. As the builder of this list, I would make it your responsibility to go through all of these old threads on the architects and read before you start typing. Compare them to the lists you use and then make your list. I appreciate what you are trying to do, but it’s a monumental task that will require a lot of leg work for you. I am just asking that you reanalyze your task. Asking questions is fine, but the approach you take to asking questions can be exhausting on a researcher like me and we have only discussed one course and we are 20 replies in. There are dozens of Minnesota Valley’s out there that need a similar discussion. If you are going to put together the kind of list you desire you are really going to have to do the research yourself and considering where you’re starting at, that will be a long road ahead. I do wish you luck, but please stop bringing up your free wiki in everyone’s threads. We know where to find that thread if we want to talk free wiki.
Bret